Passive optical networks (PONs) are fast replacing hybrid fiber coaxial networks (HFCNs) as the communication topology of choice for service providers such as telephone, cable television, and Internet service providers. In a HFCN, a fiber optic cable is used to transmit optical signals between a central premise or office of a communication service provider (hereinafter, “service provider”) and a fiber optic node located near a service subscriber or customer, such as a residential home subscribing to a telephone service, cable television (CATV) service, data (e.g., Internet) service, or any combination thereof. The fiber optic node employs powered or active components to receive and convert the optical signals into radio frequency (RF) signals for transmission via a coaxial cable to the subscriber's home. Like a HFCN, a PON is a point-to-multipoint communication network that uses a fiber optical cable to transmit optical signals. However, as its name implies, the PON employs non-powered or passive optical elements to provide optical signals from an optical line terminal (OLT) of the service provider to the service subscribers or customers without the need for a fiber optic node to perform optical-to-RF conversion. Each subscriber's home is equipped with an optical network terminal (ONT) apparatus or unit that provides the necessary optical-to-RF conversion to provide the subscriber with the subscribed telephone, CATV, and data services.
A conventional ONT unit is typically found mounted to the side of a subscriber's home and factory-configured to provide a fixed number of telephone lines, video feeds, and data lines to the subscriber's home. Thus, once the subscriber desires more telephone, video, or data lines than the ONT unit is capable of providing, the old ONT unit must be replaced with a new, more capable ONT unit. This problem is more prevalent in a multi-dwelling unit, such as an apartment building or a commercial business building with multiple tenants, wherein the number of communication or service lines (e.g., telephone, video, and data lines) periodically vary due to the constant migration of tenants in and out of such a premise. A typical solution to this problem is to initially provide an ONT unit that has more communication or service capacity than needed so as to accommodate any future increased need for communication lines. However, such a solution is not cost effective because it requires a more expensive upfront purchase and installation of a more-capable ONT unit that initially is not fully utilized and may or may not be fully utilized in the future.